The Education and Science Committee's report
on the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) made an important
point about how TEC is having to cope with ongoing cuts to
tertiary sector funding, rather than manage a stronger
budget for the sector.

And the sector is crying out for
support at a time when we have record numbers of young
people leaving for Australia, record numbers of unemployed
young people, and a refusal by government to properly fund
tertiary education for those still living here in
Aotearoa.

And that’s why it’s important that in
considering this report on the TEC, we also consider the
research that tells us how the lack of access to tertiary
education, defines the future for many of our young
people.

Research that tells us that high fees stop many
from thinking they can aspire to a tertiary education; from
even bothering to enrol; from signing on for longer more
costly degree length courses; even though they know that
that is the pathway to better employment
opportunities.

Research that tells us that many, crippled
by student debt, leave as soon as they graduate to escape a
life of indebtedness, or drop out early because of the heavy
financial commitments of tertiary study.

And sadly,
research that tells us what most of us already know but many
refuse to acknowledge, that these problems are ever more
complex and far more damaging, for Maori, for Pasifika, and
for those who grow up in communities where poverty is the
norm.

And that’s why MANA says, that if we want NZ to
become a genuine player in world affairs, then instead of
trying to bribe our away onto the UN Security Council, and
instead of throwing even more money at Team New Zealand
after already blowing $90 million on two failed campaigns to
date, and instead of constantly cutting funds to what was
once a leading international tertiary sector, perhaps we
should be overhauling our whole education system and
rebuilding it based on a full commitment toFREE
EDUCATION that shows our young people that we want
them to grow here, we want them to learn here, we want them
to live here, we want them to work here, we want them to
invest here, and that we are happy to invest in them,
because we know that an investment in them is an investment
in us all.

Because we know that education is a public
right, something that should be paid
for from the public purse; that Aotearoa is a better nation
with an educated population; that student debt is a huge
deterrent to people taking up tertiary study, and a massive
burden in a low wage economy like ours; that we need to be
tapping into the nation’s intelligence, to become
innovators rather than mere consumers for the world’s
multinationals; and that without a culture of free
education, we shall become the zombies of the world, the
dull and dim-witted slaves to a rich and powerful and
ever-more greedy elite.

And that’s why we need to
increase access to our tertiary institutions, to convince
parents that their children can get in to those places, and
to get our young people to believe that tertiary education
really is available to everyone, regardless of the colour of
their wallets!

And that’s why one of MANA’s very first
policies, isFREE EDUCATION, a position also
promoted by our partners in the Internet Party, and a
position based on our absolute belief that our young people
are worth every cent of our investment.

And that’s why
we say -drop the decision to shut down student
associations and let them continue to be voices
for change, campaigners for student rights, and advocates
for free thinking;dump the plan to remove
student, staff and community members from tertiary
governance bodies and let them continue to be
the voices of their communities;write off student
debt as the first step in our investment in our
own future;provide a proper living student
allowance for all tertiary
students;scrap tertiary fees; and
challenge ourselves to create a world that we
want for all of our young people, not just
those who can afford it

And yes we know that this approach
will cost us, but in the final analysis MANA still says
yes,absolutely yes, because we believe, absolutely
believe, that our young people will be worth every
single
cent.

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